Indian tech engineer accused of murdering his wife in America. Secret affair in the investigation, photo of the dead body sent to the girlfriend and digital evidence revealed sensational secrets, threat of life imprisonment.
Washington/New Delhi: A hair-raising incident has come to light from Washington state of America, which has shaken the Indian community and the tech world. An Indian software engineer brutally strangled his wife to death just six months after their marriage. But the most horrifying aspect of this murder mystery came to light when the investigation revealed that after committing the crime, the murdered husband had sent the picture of his wife’s dead body to his girlfriend sitting in India on WhatsApp. After a long investigation of about nine months, the American police has put this murderer engineer behind the bars.
‘Crime scene’ drama at midnight: The horrifying reality of a closed bathroom
This horrifying story started on the night of 27 October 2025 from Bellevue city of Washington. Bellevue police received a call from a panicked man. The caller revealed his name as Avinash Narne (30 years), who was a software development engineer by profession. Crying, Avinash told the police that his 27-year-old wife Rajita Sabbini had locked herself in the bathroom and despite several calls, no response was coming from inside. As soon as the information was received, a team of American police immediately reached his luxurious apartment. When the officers forcibly broke the bathroom door, they were shocked to see the sight inside. Rajita was lying unconscious on the floor. The medical team that reached the spot declared him dead after investigation. Within just six months of the marriage, which took place in June 2025, this happy family had come to an end.
Killer’s ‘perfect murder’ plan: Smart-lock data reveals the secret
Avinash had fabricated a ‘perfect story’ to prove himself innocent in front of the police. He told investigators that he had gone out of the house for some work on the day of the incident for about 40 minutes. When he returned, his wife was locked in the bathroom. His indication was clear that while he was away, some unknown intruder entered the house and took Rajita’s life. But, the murderer forgot that he was living in a high-tech ‘smart apartment’ in America. When Bellevue Police detectives searched the digital forensic records of the security and smart-lock system of the main door of the apartment, the murderer was found dead. Digital data confirmed that Avinash had definitely gone out, but there was no entry of any third person in the entire apartment between his departure and arrival. The post-mortem report of the King County Medical Examiner also made it clear that Rajita’s death was not natural but due to suffocation due to strangulation.
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That last message of ‘Bitter Smoothie’: Was poison being given slowly?
As the investigation progressed, the police got hold of some chat records from Rajita’s mobile which added the ‘slow poisoning’ angle to the murder. According to charging documents, Rajita had sent several messages to Avinash a few weeks before her death, in which she complained that whatever drinks or smoothies Avinash made for her tasted “unusual and bitter”. Even on the day of her death, Rajita had texted Avinash that the smoothie made by her tasted like “medicine and cough syrup”. Interestingly, when the police had come to investigate at night, Avinash himself had misled the police by saying that Rajita was not well and might have fainted in the bathroom due to cough syrup overdose. Police suspect that he was giving some intoxicating or bitter substance to Rajita.
That ‘Teesri’ had come to the wedding also: Secret relationship and that picture of the dead body
When detectives searched the call logs and personal chats of Avinash, the most shocking motive behind this murder came to light. Actually, Avinash, a resident of Telangana, was in a “secret relationship” with another woman in India for several years before marrying Rajita through an arranged marriage on June 5, 2025. This relationship was so deep that she even attended the wedding ceremony of girlfriend Avinash and Rajita. Even after coming to America after marriage, Avinash remained continuously connected with his girlfriend through video calls and messages. On the day of the murder, while Avinash was pretending to the police that he was knocking on the closed bathroom door, he had called his girlfriend in India four times. The limit reached when Avinash sent a gruesome photo of Rajita’s dead body to his girlfriend in India the day after the murder. When pressure increased during interrogation, the accused confessed to this.
Huge bail of Rs 48 crore: Will the murderer get life imprisonment?
After Rajita’s death, Bellevue police detectives kept quietly collecting evidence for almost nine months, so that the murderer could not escape by taking advantage of any trick of the law. After corroborating digital records, call logs, smart-lock data and forensic reports, the police nabbed Avinash during a follow-up interview. On July 1, a local US court formally charged Avinash Narne with first-degree murder, i.e. murder as part of a premeditated conspiracy. At present, considering its seriousness, the court has set a huge bail amount of 5 million US dollars (about Rs 48 crore), which is impossible for the murderer to pay. According to the strict law of Washington State, if Avinash is proved guilty in the court, then this Indian citizen will have to spend his entire life in a US prison cell without any parole.